


Situation Normal - All F**ked Up

by Curlew



Category: Starsky and Hutch - Fandom
Genre: Episode related - Strange Justice, Fatal Charm, Gen, Hutch Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24735502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Curlew/pseuds/Curlew
Summary: Late night talk just after the end of Strange Justice. Fatal Charm references. Starsky thinks Hutch is thinking too much, but he isn’t- Starsky isn’t thinking enough. No sex, just a conversation about it. Hutch angst - of course.Domesticity. I like domesticity.A tag I would give a LOT to see happen.....
Relationships: Ken Hutchinson/David Starsky
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	Situation Normal - All F**ked Up

It had been, by any reckoning, a hell of a fortnight. There was nothing cops hated more than a cop who went rogue. At some level they could all see why Slate had wanted his daughter’s rapist dead. Even Hutch, whose belief in the justice system had survived 7 years on the streets more intact than most of his colleagues’ had, knew that the chances of Biggs standing trial for the rape were slim and the chances of him being convicted even slimmer. But the calculated way Slate had engineered Biggs execution at the hands of the police left a bitter taste.

By unspoken agreement, Starsky and Hutch declared a SNAFU night and the time honored planning kicked in. Clocked out of work, in the car and at the 7-11 in five minutes . Two trollies, up and down separate aisles like a well oiled machine. Beer, soda. Eggs, milk, bread. Snacks. Whatever in the produce aisle looked good - on this occasion, a watermelon and some peaches. Ice cream. A bottle of red wine in case the talk got too late and heavy for beer. Then to Hutch’s apartment. Whoever felt more physically and mentally grimy - usually Hutch - hit the shower first while the other - usually Starsky - did a quick and dirty house clean, because need for a SNAFU evening meant there had been no time for housekeeping for at least a fortnight and there were probably no clean plates. Then a swap, and soon both were on the sofa, in worn and washed s to softness sweats, beer, books, magazines, snacks and TV guide to hand, pizza ordered, chess and monopoly nearby in case they felt like playing later. And Starsky’s beloved Navajo rug, that had migrated to Hutch’s and never made it home again ready for when the air turned a little chilly later. Hutch had once tried to change the routine to include home cooked food, but only half heartedly - secretly he knew that you didn’t mess with a winning formula. Starsky glanced at the clock and saluted his partner with his beer bottle.

“Hour and ten. . Not bad”

The target for SNAFU was less than an hour and a half from office chair to sofa. Their record was fifty five minutes but there had been no traffic and no queue in the 7-11. An hour and ten was good. Hutch stretched his long legs out beside Starsky’s and sank half his first beer.

“I saw you having lunch with Solberg- how’s he doing?”

Starsky shrugged

“He’s a rookie who’s made his first kill and feels he was played for a sucker by the guy who recommended him to the Academy. How do you think he’s doing?”

“Better for talking to you”

“Yeah, well. Tried to make him see that if it’d been going down the way he thought, he’d have called it exactly right” Starsky gave him a half grin “He’s a good kid. Somehow made me think of Kiko”

“And when are you seeing your Little Brother again?”

“Why do you think......Oh, OK, I’m taking him for a beer next week, That’s the pizza. My turn”

Hutch smiled affectionately at his partner as he used the distraction of dealing with their food to avoid more conversation about Solberg. But he knew that while the young officer may have lost one mentor, he had found another.

Pizza eaten, second beers well on the way to empty, they sat in companionable silence, until Starsky said.

“This really is a shit show, isn’t it? I mean, how’s Lesley going to feel knowing he did it for her?”

“Christ knows. Starsk- if she’d been your daughter, what would you have done?”

“Oh, I’d have blown him away, no question”

“Would you?”

“Sure I would. But the difference is, the way I’d do it, nobody would ever find him. And I wouldn’t fuck up anyone else while I was doing it. What’s wrong?” 

Hutch was looking at him, suddenly pale and wide eyed.

“I didn’t know you felt like that”

“Wouldn’t you? If it was your sister?’

“I guess I would. But.... that’s why we have a legal system. Victims and their families are the worst people to decide on justice.....”

“Hutch, there’s a chance Biggs would have been convicted, because he broke into Lesley’s house, he was a stranger to her and he raped her in her bedroom. But you know as well as I do that most rapes aren’t like that. And most victims know damned well they’ll be put through hell in the witness stand, so they don’t want to testify, and who’d blame them? So yes, I’d take him out without a second thought” 

Hutch didn’t reply but Starsky could feel him tense, and the giveaway crease between his brows deepened. Puzzled, Starsky opened his mouth to question him, but he was on his feet and heading for the kitchen.

“I-Ice cream?”

Starsky followed Hutch with his eyes. Yep. Thoroughly rattled. Something going on there. One of the rules of SNAFU nights was that nothing was off limits- they talked until they were talked out. But sometimes a strategic time out was called for. He reached for the TV guide.

“Have I ever been known to say no? Hey, hurry, Laverne and Shirley’s just starting! And then there’s a MASH rerun”

“Is it one with Wayne Rogers in it? I don’t like the ones with..’

‘Yes, yes, I know you don’t. Don’t worry- Trapper’s on. I really don’t what you’ve got against Hunnicutt”

Hutch loaded ice cream, watermelon and more beer onto the coffee table, and aimed a cuff at Starsky’s head as he went back to his seat 

‘Apart from him being called BJ? Someone’s head should roll for that. Maybe I’ve just got a thing for curly New Yorkers”

Starsky grinned

“I see myself more as Hawkeye. Handsome, brave, sexy, funny....”

“Dream on, mushbrain”

Laverne and Shirley as usual left them helpless with laughter, then a particularly poignant episode of MASH sobered them up again. Then they were hungry again and hit the chips and salsa.

“Starsk...”

“That’s me”

“How many women have you...er..”

Starsky shrugged.

“Don’t know. A few. More than a few. A lot. Same as you?”

Hutch half laughed

“More than me - you started younger and I had 5 years out, remember?”

“You mean- when you were with Vanessa you never...”

“Nope”

“Not once?”

“Nope”

‘Even when she...?”

‘Nope”

Starsky felt an unexpected wave of tenderness sweep over him and he reached down to hold the ankle stretched beside his hip.

“Aww, buddy, you really are something else, you know that?”

‘How many?”

“Well, it’s been nearly 20 years- I don’t know. 100 maybe? 150? 200?. What is this? You moonlighting doing research for Masters and Johnston?”

Hutch took a very small bite of watermelon.

“And in all that time have you ever....” His voice trailed off.

“Probably. Why, you looking for some tips?

‘Have you ever carried on when she said no?” 

The words came in a rush. Whatever Starsky had been expecting, it hadn’t been this, and for a moment he felt a flare of anger.

“What are you saying? Of course I haven’t!’

‘I have’

Starsky’s anger went as quickly as it had come and he reflexively tightened his hold on the ankle beside him. Hesitantly, he said - scared of what he might hear-

“Say more?”

“I’ve pushed it - knew she didn’t really want to but carried on. Made it difficult for her to say no. And if she did say no, I’ve assumed she didn’t mean it. And I’ve expected sex at the end of the evening without thinking about what she wants. Just considered it part of the package”

Starsky let out his breath with a relieved whoosh.

“Is that all? Buddy, we’ve all been there. It’s what men do!”

“Is it?”

“Of course. Girls sometimes need a bit of encouragement, is all. They say no- but they don’t really mean no- they mean persuade me- coax me. Work for it. What got you thinking this way?”

“Thinking about Lesley. And..” his hand went unconsciously to his upper arm and rubbed as if there was an ache there..”Diana”

“Diana! What about her?”

Hutch hesitated.

“This is hard to talk about”

“Just me here. All ears”

“When I went back to her place from Sullivan’s that day all I was thinking about was getting laid. Then after we talked a bit I found I didn’t really want to any more. But she was keen, and she’d picked me up and she flattered me, so.....”

“Little Kenny had his way”

“Little Kenny didn’t care that I didn’t like her much, or that we had nothing in common. She was cute and willing. But it made me feel like shit. And I felt worse the next time. She was very.... persuasive., but I.....And it made me think about the women I’ve......Oh, I don’t know what I’m saying’

“Hutch- listen to me. Take away your gun and your badge and your street face, and you’re the gentlest, kindest, most considerate man on the planet. And I can’t imagine you’re any different in bed. Any woman who goes to bed with you is going to have a good time. In fact, some of them have told me about it.....”

Hutch made an impatient gesture.

“That’s not what I mean. What I’m saying is that I’ve had a lot of sex too.. And there’s only been one time in 15 years when I’ve not wanted to and been persuaded and guilt tripped into it.That ever happened to you? No-thought not. But I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve done the persuading or the guilt tripping. It happens to women all of the time. And of course it’s not the same as rape...”

“Sure as hell isn’t!’

“But it’s still kinda using, isn’t it? Men using women? Taking what we want?”

Starsky shifted uncomfortably.

“I think I”m out of my depth here”

“So am I. I need to think about it more”

“Hutch- you doing more thinking is very rarely the answer”

“There’s an open lecture at the University next month I’d like to go to- wanna come?”

“About sex? Absolutely no way - you’re on your own for that, pal! Who’s giving it- Shere Hite?”

“No- can’t remember her name. Andrea something. Dawkins? No- Dworkin, that’s it”


End file.
